EMERALD RAINEMERALD RAIN
By Nicky Baldrian
Melodic rockers Emerald Rain
are back with their superb new album "Age Of
Innocence", and with a new live album on the way I decided
to catch up with frontman Murray Daigle to find out more about
this amazing band.......
Nicky:- Murray,
what was it like working and touring with Bob Catley? And how did
that come about?
Murray:- Working with Bob was
awesome, he is a really professional and a gifted singer. I think
that it was a great opportunity for the band so early in our
existance. We also ended up being very good frineds and for me
thats just as important as anything.
Nicky:- How did you hook up with Now And Then Records?
Murray:- Mark Ashton at Now
& Then has heard of our old band, "Pain". He had
somehow got his hands on a copy of our second record
"Pieces" and to this day he tells me he's still
listening to it. He contacted us trying to
find out what Pain was up to and if we still had a record deal.
It just so happens that at that time Pain had been broken up for
about a year and we were putting together what eventually become
"Broken Saviours". It was just
a matter of sending him some tapes of rough mixes and he offered
us a deal.
Nicky:- One of my
favourite songs on "Age Of Innocence" is "The
Method", I love the speedy riffs, it just sounds as if you
all went a bit crazy, can you tell me about that song?
Murray:- Well it's a little more
in the vein of the older Pain material. To tell you the truth it
doesn't get a very good response from most reviewers and such,
and we don't play it live. We new it was a bit heavy compared to
our other stuff, but it was kind of like a treat for ourselves
putting it on the record. I am always glad to hear that someone
is enjoying it though, but I don't see us moving too much in that
direction.
Nicky:- What are you favourite tracks from "Broken Saviours" and "Age Of Innocence"?
Murray:- That's a very difficult
question for any songwriter, because you have elements of every
song that make them special to you. If we felt any song was weak
it would never see the light of day. But I will say I on the
first record, "Broken saviours" has a special feeling
for me because it did alot for us breaking the band. On "Age
Of Innocence", I have to say that the title track was the
first song we wrote so it really started the ball
rolling and set the direstion for the other songs. I love singing
"Never Surrender" cause it's high and heavy and I don't
get to do too much like that these days. Also, "Come
Clean" lyrically is something that means alot
to the guys in the band.
Nicky:- Who are
your musical influences?
Murray:- The band's influences
are very broad. Of course there are all the obvious AOR heros
like Whitesnake, Queensryche, Harem Scarem, Def Lepperd, Kiss.
But everyone in the band listens to very different music. I
listen to alot of acoustic based pop/rock. Mike listens to alot
of dance and R&B. Sean is more of a rock guy, but he also
likes alot of the new R&B stuff that's going on. And Kyle is
a big Beatles fan (who isn't though?), he also
likes alot of reggae and funk and even the Oasis type bands.
Nicky:- How long have you been singing Murray?
Murray? I have always sang, my
whole life - my parents couldn't shut me up. But I didn't really
decide to focus on it as my main interest until I was 18 or 19. I
always planned on being a great guitarist until I met Mike and
now I only play enough to write songs and cover some of the
rhythm parts in the live show.
Nicky:- The reaction to your performance the first time you played the Gods Festival was amazing for a new band, What are your memories of that day?
Murray:- We were just having a
great time, it was very exciting for us to have the record
company bring us over for the shows. It was pretty overwhelming
meeting so many people and seeing the reaction to the band. We
were pretty nervous becuase we really didn't know what to expect,
but it turned out awesome - one of the best experiences I've had.
Nicky:- Did you do anything musically prior to Emerald Rain?
Murray:- Yes. As I mentioned
earlier Mike, Sean and I played together in a band called Pain.
It was a heavier, more progressive sort of thing. We had a deal
in Japan for one album and some distrubution in Europe with the
second, but it never really went anywhere. We learned alot about
the business and I think overall it was a good learning
experience.
Nicky:- Hows the music scene these days in your home country? Any interesting new bands coming out?
Murray:- There is virtually no
AOR scene here at all, which is very dissapointing to us. But
there are lots of bands and lots of interesting things happening.
We all own recording studios, so we work with alot of young bands
and I'm always hearing alot of fresh ideas. You can't beat the
enthusiasm that these young kids have.
Nicky:- If you could describe Emerald Rain's music as part of a womans body which part would you choose?
Murray:- What!?!? (LAUGHS)
That's a really tough question. I would have to say it's like a
large set of breasts. You know that there is something deeper and
more meaning full behind her eyes, but you just can't take your
eyes of her chest to find out what.(LAUGHS)
Nicky:- How's have the Japanese taken to Emerald Rain?
Murray:- The albums have been doing very well in Japan especially "Age Of Innocence". We have a great label there and excellent people taking care of us - Yoshi and all the people at the Dreamchaser label are really doing an excellent job.
Nicky:- Whats next?
Murray:- We just finished our
first live record which will be avalable soon through Now &
Then/Frontiers Record. There is also a Limited Edition Version
that is only avaiable through the bands website that features an
extra song, extra artwork and all 500 copies are hand signed by
the band. There is also talk about a summer tour of Europe, but
nothing firm yet. In the meantime ,we are just about ready to
start writing for the next record.
Nicky:- And finally is there anything that you would like to say to your fans here in Europe & the UK?
Murray:- Thanks for the success you have afforded us this far. I hope we don't let you down in the future. I would also invite everyone to keep in touch with us and let us know what you like and don't like about the band - we're always interested in peoples reactions. Check out our website and drop us a line at:
www.members.home.com/emeraldrain